TITLE II. RESPECTIVE POWERS OF THE UNION AND THE ILANDS
Article 7
Respecting the unity of the Union and the inviolability of its borders as internationally recognized, each island shall administer and manage its affairs freely.
Each island shall freely establish its status law while respecting the Constitution of the Union.
Comorans shall have the same rights, liberties and duties in each part of the Union.
No authority may adopt measures which either directly or indirectly would restrict the free movement and the freedom of residence of persons or the free circulation of goods in any part of the territory of the Union.
Article 7.1
Any secession or attempt at secession of one or several autonomous islands shall be prohibited.
Each act which infringes the territorial integrity or national unity shall be considered as secession.
Each act or measure which is likely to infringe the unity of the Republic or to endanger the integrity of the national territory taken by an authority of an autonomous island or the Union shall be null and void. Judicial prosecutions notwithstanding, the nullity shall be declared by the Constitutional Court upon request by the President of the Union, by the President of the Assembly of the Union, by five Members of the Assembly of the Union, or by each citizen.
Article 7.2
In the autonomous islands the executive and deliberative functions shall be exercised by different organs.
The executive function shall be exercised by a Governor assisted by Commissioners.
The Governor shall be elected by direct universal suffrage under a system of majority voting in two rounds for a term of five years, renewable once. In the case of resignation or permanent incapacity occurring within nine-hundred days after the start of his term and duly declared by the Constitutional Court upon request of the executive of the island the functions of Governor shall temporarily be exercised by the President of the Island Council. The election of a new Governor shall take place within forty-five days by indirect suffrage by the representatives of the Island Council and the mayors sitting as Congress.
The election shall take place by absolute majority of the members of the Congress. If this majority is not obtained on the first ballot, a second round of voting shall be held in which a simple majority of the members present shall suffice. The new Governor shall be elected for the rest of the term. During the period of forty-five days the Interim-Governor shall not appoint any new Commissioners.
If the vacancy or the permanent incapacity occurs later than nine-hundred days after the start of the Governor’s term, the interim shall be ensured by the President of the Island Council until the end of the term.
The Governor shall be the Head of the autonomous island.
He shall exercise by way of edict the powers which are assigned to him by the Constitution and the status law of the autonomous island. He shall ensure due respect for the Constitution and guarantee the implementation of the statutes and regulations of the Union in the island.
He shall make public the deliberations of the Island Council.
He shall be the Head of the relevant administration of the island.
The Governor shall be kept informed of the implementation of the measures of the Union in the island.
The Governor shall appoint the Commissioners whose number may not exceed six (6), and terminate their functions.
The deliberating function shall be exercised by an Island Council.
The Island Council shall regulate the matters of the autonomous island through its deliberations.
The Councilors of the Island shall be elected together with their substitutes (suppléants) by simple majority in single-member constituencies for a term of five years. An Act of the Union shall determine the number of the constituencies and the modalities of the vote.
The number of the Councilors shall not exceed:
- nine (9) for Mwali;
eleven (11) for Maoré; nineteen (19) for N’dzuwani; twenty-three (23) for Ngazidja.
The office of Island Councilor does not give a right to remuneration. However, travel and attendance allowances may be granted to him by edict of the Governor within the limits fixed by statutory legislation.
The composition, organization and functioning of the Island Council as well as the modalities and terms for the election of its members shall be determined by statutory legislation.
The terms concerning the competences and the functioning of the office of Governor as well as the relations between the Governor’s office and the Island Council shall be fixed by statutory regulation.
Article 7.3
The autonomous islands shall comprise territorial communities which shall freely govern themselves through elected executive and deliberating organs, in the procedures and conditions determined by the legislation of the Union.
Article 8
Union law shall take precedence over the law of the islands; it shall be executed in the whole territory of the Comoros.
Article 9
The following matters shall fall within the jurisdiction of the autonomous islands:
- administration of the local communities;
organization of administrative, commercial or industrial entities and units of an island character other than State companies; police in the cities and in the rural areas; Fairs and markets; distribution of island grants and scholarships; road administration; administration of secondary roads; local planning with regard to the island territory; construction, furnishing, maintenance and management of facilities in preparatory, primary and secondary education as well as of their staff; local professional training at the elementary level; non-industrial fishing; agriculture and breeding, with the exception of breeding schemes and research activities; construction, furnishing, maintenance and management of basic healthcare facilities and of their staff.
Matters other than those referred to in the preceding paragraph shall fall within the jurisdiction of the Union.
The autonomous islands shall generate their own revenues for the exercise of their powers by levying fees and internal taxes on goods and services in accordance with the Finance Act.
Article 10
Peace Treaties, Trade agreements, treaties or agreements relating to international organization, those committing the finances of the State, those modifying provisions which are the preserve of statute law, those relating to the status of persons, and those involving the ceding, exchanging or acquiring of territory, may be ratified or approved only by an Act of Parliament.
They shall not take effect until such ratification or approval has been secured.
If the Constitutional Court, upon referral by the President of the Union, by the President of the Assembly of the Union or by the Heads of the island executives has held that an international undertaking contains a clause contrary to the Constitution, authorization to ratify or approve the international undertaking involved may be given only after amending the Constitution.
Treaties or agreements duly ratified or approved shall, upon publication, prevail over Acts of the Union or the islands, subject, with respect to each agreement or treaty, to its application by the other party.
Article 11
The islands shall enjoy financial autonomy.
They shall freely enact and execute their budgets in accordance with the principles applicable to the management of public finances.
An Institutional Act shall determine the respective share of the revenues to which the Union and the islands shall be entitled. The division of revenues shall be implemented within the framework of the annual Finance Act of the Union.
Subjects to the conditions defined by the Institutional Act the islands may create for the benefit of their budgets taxes and levies not provided for by the law of the Union.
The Union shall distribute external aid and investments equitably among the islands, while upholding the principles of solidarity and complementarity which govern their relations.
